Sway

Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior by Ori Brafman and Rom Brafman read by John Apicella

Description

Like the bestselling Blink and Freakonomics, this lively narrative is a fresh view of the world, explaining the previously inexplicable and revealing hidden influences on human decision-making.

A Harvard Business School student pays over $200 for a $20 bill. Washington, DC commuters ignore a free subway concert by a violin prodigy. A veteran airline pilot attempts to take off without control tower clearance and collides with another plane on the runway. Why do we do the wildly irrational things we sometimes do?

Drawing on cutting-edge research from the fields of social psychology, behavioral economics, and organizational behavior, brothers Ori and Rom Brafman reveal the dynamic forces that act on us repeatedly over time, affecting nearly every aspect of our personal and business lives. They show how we are sabotaged by loss aversion (going to great lengths to avoid perceived losses), the diagnosis bias (ignoring evidence that contradicts our initial take on a person or situation), and commitment (even when a plan isn’t working, we are reluctant to change course). Weaving together colorful stories-- about dot-com millionaires, game show audiences, NBA coaches, and the US Supreme Court-- tours the flip side of reason and points us toward a more rational life.

What Happened

What Happened - Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception by Scott McClellan read by Scott McClellan

Description

Scott McClellan belonged to Bush’s select inner circle of trusted advisers during one of the most challenging and contentious periods of recent history. Over a period of more than seven years, he witnessed day-to-day exactly how the Presidency veered off course: not only by its decision to topple Saddam Hussein, but by an embrace of confrontational politics in the face of an increasingly partisan Washington and hostile media.

In this refreshingly clear-eyed book, McClellan provides unique perspective on what happened and why it happened the way it did, including the Iraq war, Hurricane Katrina, and two hotly-contested presidential campaigns. He gives readers a candid look into who George W. Bush is and what he believes, and explores the lessons this presidency offers the American people as we prepare to elect a new leader.

Stupid Black Men

Stupid Black Men: How to Play the Race Card - And Lose by Larry Elder read by Larry Elder

Description

Is life unfair for Black Americans?

Is racial equality the answer to every question of public policy?

Is a huge group of citizens kept down by “the man”?

Radio host and bestselling author Larry Elder has made a career out of being a thorn in the side of the conventional-wisdom crowd. He deflates the pompous and points out the completely logical truths hidden behind the nutty rhetoric and out-of-control pandering of politicians and the so-called leaders of a variety of special-interest groups. In Stupid Black Men, he takes on the mind- set of those people who always capture the most media attention-as well as masses of public money-people who say that racism in the root of all problems and who end up hurting precisely those they claim to be helping. Whether they are demagogues like Al Sharpton, established politicians like Hilary Clinton, or entertainers like Danny Glover, no one escapes Elder’s cogent arguments and rapier wit. His sometimes hilarious and always infuriating examples of wrong-headedness skewer not just politicians for their smugness and hypocrisy but also actors, educators religious leaders, and the “main-scream media” for keeping the story in the headlines. But Elder has a positive message; too: though they are fewer-and generally not as loudmouthed-there are leaders and role models today who want to sweep away race-based whining and urge everyone in America to share in the hard work, smart thinking, and optimism that make this country great.

The Bush Tragedy

The Bush Tragedy by Jacob Weisberg read by Robertson Dean

Description

In this first important consideration of the George W. Bush presidency and its profound impact on the state of the world, Jacob Weisberg crafts a wide-ranging portrait that is both balanced and insightful. Weisberg traces the evolution of Bush's political philosophy from its roots in his early life and his years as governor of Texas through the events of 9/11 and his turbulent two terms in office. With careful analyses, Weisberg offers an eye-opening assessment of Bush's deeply conflicted relationship with his father, former President George H. W. Bush, and with major figures in the administration, including Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. This groundbreaking book of reportage, synthesis, and analysis will stand as the indispensable account of a presidency of enormous consequence.

Blackwater

Blackwater - The Rise Of The World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army by Jeremy Scahill read by Tom Weiner

Description

A largely untold facet of the war on terror is the widespread outsourcing of military tasks to private mercenary companies. Accountable neither to the citizenry nor to standard military legal codes, these largely unregulated corporate armies are being entrusted with ever-greater responsibilities on behalf of the nation.

Meet Blackwater USA, the world’s most secretive, powerful, and fastest growing private army on the planet. Founded by fundamentalist Christian megamillionaire Erik Prince, the scion of a conservative dynasty that bankrolls extreme-right-wing causes, this company of soldiers is now being sent “to the front lines of a global battle, waged largely on Muslim lands, that an evangelical President whom Prince helped put in the White House has boldly defined as a ‘crusade’.”

Ranging from the blood-soaked streets of Fallujah to Washington, D.C., where they are hailed as heroes, this is the dark story of Blackwater’s rise to power.

The Botany of Desire

The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan Read by Scott Brick

Description

Every schoolchild learns about the mutually beneficial dance of honeybees and flowers: The bee collects nectar and pollen to make honey and, in the process, spreads the flowers’ genes far and wide. In The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan ingeniously demonstrates how people and domesticated plants have formed a similarly reciprocal relationship. He masterfully links four fundamental human desires—sweetness, beauty, intoxication and control—with the plants that satisfy them: the apple, the tulop, marijuana, and the potato. In telling the stories of four familiar species, Pollan illustrates how the plants have evolved to satisfy humankind’s most basic yearnings. And just as we’ve benefited from these plants, the plants have also benefited at least as much from their association with us. So who is really domesticating whom?

Click here to read the full AudioFile Magazine review of this title

Daylight Robbery

BBC NEWS | Programmes | Panorama | Daylight Robbery:

"Daylight Robbery: BBC One 9pm Tuesday 10 June 2008. Panorama investigates claims that as much as $23bn (£11.75bn) may have been lost, stolen or not properly accounted for in Iraq."

Last Lecture

Last Lecture by Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow read by Erik Singer

Description

"We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand." - Randy Pausch

A lot of professors give talks titled "The Last Lecture." Professors are asked to consider their demise and to ruminate on what matters most to them. And while they speak, audiences can't help but mull the same question: What wisdom would we impart to the world if we knew it was our last chance? If we had to vanish tomorrow, what would we want as our legacy?

When Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, was asked to give such a lecture, he didn't have to imagine it as his last, since he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. But the lecture he gave - "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" - wasn't about dying. It was about the importance of overcoming obstacles, of enabling the dreams of others, of seizing every moment (because "time is all you have...and you may find one day that you have less than you think"). It was a summation of everything Randy had come to believe. It was about living.

In this audiobook, Randy Pausch has combined the humor, inspiration and intelligence that made his lecture such a phenomenon and given it an indelible form. It is a book that will be shared for generations to come.

For more information visit www.theLastLecture.com

Bananas

Bananas: How The United Fruit Company Shaped the World by Peter Chapman

NYT Sunday Book Review
Big Fruit
By DANIEL KURTZ-PHELAN
Published: March 2, 2008
A U.S. company, Latin America and the dark side of the banana business.

Banana

Banana: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World by Dan Koeppel

Description

From its early beginnings in Southeast Asia, to the machinations of the United Fruit Company in Costa Rica and Central America, the banana's history and its fate as a victim of fungus are explored.

New York Times - Op-Ed Contributor

Yes, We Will Have No Bananas

By DAN KOEPPEL

Published: June 18, 2008

If bananas reach $1 a pound, the strategy that allowed banana companies to turn an exotic, tropical fruit into an everyday favorite will begin to unravel.

The Nation - Banana Kings by Emily Biuso

The Passion Plan

The Passion Plan: Find Your Passion and Change Your Life by Richard Chang read by Richard Chang

Description

In The Passion Plan, Dr. Richard Chang presents seven simple steps to discovering the things we really care about, deciding where we want them to take us, and developing a plan to get us there.

The Golden Rule of Schmoozing

The Golden Rule of Schmoozing: The Authentic Practice of Treating Others Well by Aye Jaye read by Penn Jillette

Description

So what is schmoozing? According to Webster's unabridged dictionary, schmoozing is a yiddish word that means to chat or to converse idly. But today there is a common misconception, the word has come to suggest a con or trickery. It's not. Schmoozing is the Golden Rule at full throttle. It's a thrill and an art form that encourages people to say, "you've made my day" instead of demanding "make my day". It's a technique for turning others on, not taking others on. A schmoozer is someone who talks to people as if they really mattered-and they do! Read by Penn Jillette, who has been called the most wired magician on this planet, is the more gregarious half of Penn & Teller—the world’s most famous magic duo.

Kingfish

Kingfish: The Reign of Huey P. Long by Richard D. White, Jr. read by Patrick Cullen

Description

Outrageous demagogue or charismatic visionary? In this powerful new biography, Richard D. White, Jr., brings Huey Long to life in all his blazing, controversial glory.

From the moment he took office as governor in 1928 to the day an assassin’s bullet cut him down in1935, Huey Long wielded all but dictatorial control over the state of Louisiana. A man of shameless ambition and ruthless vindictiveness, Huey orchestrated elections, hired and fired thousands at will, and deployed the state militia as his personal police force. And yet, paradoxically, as governor and later as senator, Huey did more good for the state’s poor and uneducated than any politician before or since.

With Kingfish, White has crafted a balanced, lucid, and absolutely spellbinding portrait of the life and times of the most incendiary figure in American politics.

Poe: A Life Cut Short

Poe: A Life Cut Short by Peter Ackroyd

Edgar Allan Poe's life (1809-1849) was Gothic, mysterious, theatrical, fatally flawed, original, dark, dazzling, satirical, inventive - in short, an ideal subject for Peter Ackroyd. Concise, dramatic and immensely readable, this is an essential and idiosyncratic addition to Ackroyd's canon of brilliant biographies.

Look Me in the Eye

Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's by John Elder Robison read by Mark Deakins

Description

Ever since he was small, John Robison had longed to connect with other people, but by the time he was a teenager, his odd habits—an inclination to blurt out non sequiturs, avoid eye contact, dismantle radios, and dig five-foot holes (and stick his younger brother in them)—had earned him the label "social deviant." No guidance came from his mother, who conversed with light fixtures, or his father, who spent evenings pickling himself in sherry. It was no wonder he gravitated to machines, which could, at least, be counted on. After fleeing his parents and dropping out of high school, his savant-like ability to visualize electronic circuits landed him a gig with KISS, for whom he created their legendary fire-breathing guitars. Later, he drifted into a "real" job, as an engineer for a major toy company. But the higher Robison rose in the company, the more he had to pretend to be "normal" and do what he simply couldn't: communicate. It wasn't worth the paycheck. It was not until he was forty that an insightful therapist told him he had the form of autism called Asperger's syndrome. That understanding transformed the way Robison saw himself—and the world. LOOK ME IN THE EYE is the moving, darkly funny story of growing up with Asperger's at a time when the diagnosis simply didn't exist. A born storyteller, Robison takes you inside the head of a boy whom teachers and other adults regarded as "defective," who could not avail himself of KISS's endless supply of groupies, and who still has a peculiar aversion to using people's given names (he calls his wife "Unit Two"). He also provides a fascinating reverse angle on the younger brother he left at the mercy of their nutty parents—the boy who would later change his name to Augusten Burroughs and write the bestselling memoir Running with Scissors. Ultimately, this is the story of Robison's journey from his world into ours, and his new life as a husband, father, and successful small business owner—repairing his beloved high-end automobiles. It's a strange, sly, indelible account—sometimes alien, yet always deeply human.

The Return of History

The Return of History and the End of Dreams by Robert Kagan

Description

Hopes for a new peaceful international order after the end of the Cold War have been dashed by sobering realities: Great powers are once again competing for honor and influence. The world remains "unipolar," but international competition among the United States, Russia, China, Europe, Japan, India, and Iran raise new threats of regional conflict. In The Return of History and the End of Dreams, Robert Kagan masterfully poses the most important questions facing the liberal democratic countries, challenging them to choose whether they want to shape history or let others shape it for them.

Your Inner Fish

Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5 Billion-Year History of the Human Body by Neil Shubin

Description

Why do we look the way we do? What does the human hand have in common with the wing of a fly? Are breasts, sweat glands, and scales connected in some way? To better understand the inner workings of our bodies and to trace the origins of many of today's most common diseases, we have to turn to unexpected sources: worms, flies, and even fish.

Neil Shubin, a leading paleontologist and professor of anatomy who discovered Tiktaalik—the "missing link" that made headlines around the world in April 2006—tells the story of evolution by tracing the organs of the human body back millions of years, long before the first creatures walked the earth. By examining fossils and DNA, Shubin shows us that our hands actually resemble fish fins, our head is organized like that of a long-extinct jawless fish, and major parts of our genome look and function like those of worms and bacteria.

Shubin makes us see ourselves and our world in a completely new light. Your Inner Fish is science writing at its finest—enlightening, accessible, and told with irresistible enthusiasm.

Super Crunchers

Super Crunchers: Why Thinking-by-Numbers Is the New Way to Be Smart by Ian Ayres

Today, number crunching affects your life in ways you might never imagine. In this lively and groundbreaking new book, economist Ian Ayres shows how today's best and brightest organizations are analyzing massive databases at lightening speed to provide greater insights into human behavior. They are the Super Crunchers. From internet sites like Google and Amazon that know your tastes better than you do, to a physician's diagnosis and your child's education, to boardrooms and government agencies, this new breed of decision makers are calling the shots. And they are delivering staggeringly accurate results. How can a football coach evaluate a player without ever seeing him play? Want to know whether the price of an airline ticket will go up or down before you buy? How can a formula outpredict wine experts in determining the best vintages? Super crunchers have the answers. In this brave new world of equation versus expertise, Ayres shows us the benefits and risks, who loses and who wins, and how super crunching can be used to help, not manipulate us.

Know-How

Know-How
The 8 Skills That Separate People Who Perform from Those Who Don't

Description

The new grand theory of leadership by Ram Charan…The breakthrough audiobook that links know-how--the skills of people who know what they are doing--with the personal and psychological traits of the successful leader.

How often have you heard someone with a commanding presence deliver a bold vision that turned out to be nothing more than rhetoric and hot air? All too often we mistake the appearance of leadership for the real deal. Without a doubt, intelligence, vision, and the ability to communicate are important. But something big is missing: the know-how of running a business--the capacity to take it in the right direction, do the right things, make the right decisions, deliver results, and leave the people and the business better off than they were before.

For well over four decades, Ram Charan has been learning in the most visceral way the underlying reasons why leaders succeed and fail. As one of the most influential advisers to top management teams of leading companies around the world, he has had a front-row seat to observe the cause and effect of leadership practices and behaviors.

Worms eat my garbage

Worms Eat My Garbage: How to setup & maintain a vermicomposting system